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Scottish Planning Policy SPP 7 - PLANNING AND FLOODING

GLOSSARY

Culvert - a covered drain, channel or pipe that carries a watercourse beneath a road, railway, building, embankment etc.

Detention pond - a basin constructed to store water temporarily to attenuate flows.

Flood Appraisal Group - non statutory advisory group made up of public and private sector representatives convened by Councils to consider in an informal setting a wide range of planning and other flooding issues.

Flood defences - works such as walls and embankments designed to reduce the risk of flooding. See also Flood Prevention Scheme.

Flood plain - the generally flat areas adjacent to a watercourse or the sea where water flows in time of flood or would flow but for the presence of flood defences (also called geographical flood plain). The limits of a flood plain are defined by the peak water level of an appropriate return period event. See also Functional Flood Plain.

Flood prevention scheme - a scheme of flood defence works to reduce the risk of flooding carried under the Flood Prevention (Scotland) Act 1961.

Flood risk assessment - an assessment carried out to predict and assess the probability of flooding for a particular site or area and recommend feasible mitigation measures including maintenance.

Flood warning system - service provided by SEPA giving general flood alerts for the whole of Scotland to members of the public, the emergency services and local authorities through various methods.

Fluvial flooding - flooding that originates from a watercourse.

Freeboard - the height added to the predicted level of a flood to take account of the height of any waves or turbulence.

Functional flood plain - the unobstructed areas of land adjacent to watercourses or on the coast where water regularly flows in times of flood and which therefore store flood water which would otherwise flow elsewhere. Generally speaking they are the part of the geographical flood plain which is not occupied by buildings and are typically used for agriculture or open space.

Public drainage system - the drainage system which is the statutory responsibility of the roads and water authorities.

Section 75 agreements - an agreement between a local authority and any person interested in land in their area for the purposes of restricting or regulating the development or use of that land either permanently or during a period of time (see Circular 12/1996).

Sustainable Drainage Systems - also called Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems, SuDS describes a range of techniques for managing the flow of water run-off from a site by treating it on site and so reducing the loading on conventional piped drainage systems.

Water Table - the level of ground water below which the ground is saturated.

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